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    The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
    The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
    The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
    Ebook240 pages4 hours

    The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

    By Benjamin Franklin

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    The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is the traditional name for the unfinished record of his own life written by Benjamin Franklin from 1771 to 1790; however, Franklin himself appears to have called the work his Memoirs. Although it had a tortuous publication history after Franklin's death, this work has become one of the most famous and influential examples of an autobiography ever written.
    (Excerpt from Wikipedia)
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOtbebookpublishing
    Release dateDec 27, 2015
    ISBN9783956761393
    Author

    Benjamin Franklin

    Benjamin Franklin was a founding father of the United States of America. He was a printer, publisher, author, inventor, scientist, and diplomat. Franklin is known for signing and drafting the Declaration of Independence, representing America during the American Revolution, and making significant contributions to science.

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    Reviews for The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

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    • 5/5
      I personally think that this was one of the best books that I have ever read. I do not think that everyone will agree with me but I love Benjamin Franklin. He is by far my favorite character from the American Revolution! This was my second time reading this book and it was much better the second time. I think that it had a lot to do with me being older and being able to relate to the things that Mr.Franklin talks about such as virtue, temperance and other things along those lines that you really just do not start to understand until you have a few years under your belt lol. This edition was also really cool because it is not only the autobiography but also other selected writings from Ben Franklin. Some of these letters and other short writings were really good and only serve to help the reader get a better understanding of some of the points that Franklin was getting at in his autobiography. I would recommend this book to anyone with a appreciation for history!
    • 4/5
      This autobiography is written as a letter, once interrupted for a decade or more, to his son. As many people have pointed out during history, the author is inclined to only include the facts they want and from their point of view. A self-congratulatory tome, Benjamin Franklin has much for to be proud of himself. I enjoy his writing style and found this book to be interesting.
    • 3/5
      Was fun to read what Franklin had to say not only about himself but about his beliefs and society as well; essential reading for any serious history student/buff
    • 4/5
      An interesting autobiography of an interesting man, though he did seem kind of arrogant.
    • 5/5
      Everyone should read this book. The narrative of Benjamin Franklin’s life is full of adventure, including leaving Boston to make his fortune as a printer in Philadelphia, two extended stays in London, involvement in Pennsylvania politics, scientific experiments and participation in the French and Indian Wars. (The autobiography ends before the American Revolution). Franklin’s observations on colonial life are an important source for information on colonial America and its relationship with Great Britain. The insights on how Franklin achieved his success as a printer and politician provide practical advice that still resonates today. Even his description of his efforts to discipline himself to live a life of virtue and hard work is not only still relevant but also contributes to the overall pleasure to be derived from reading this autobiography.Franklin addresses his autobiography to his son, and indeed many people would benefit from reading the book when they start out in life. He lays out his daily effort to master thirteen virtues in which every day’s successes and failures were recorded on a chart listing the virtues and every day of the week. He acknowledges that when a friend pointed out that pride was one of his faults, he added humility to his list of virtues to be pursued. His total list consisted of the following twelve virtues in addition to humility: temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility and chastity. Concerning order (“Let all your things have their place; let each part of your business have its time“), he bemoans that he was never able to teach himself to keep his papers neat and tidy.More important than his schema of virtues is the wisdom to be derived from numerous examples of practical choices made in his political and business life. For example, Franklin tells the story of a man in the Pennsylvania Assembly who sought to defeat Franklin’s reappointment as clerk to the Assembly because the man had another candidate he was backing. Fortunately for Franklin, the man’s efforts fell short and Franklin was reappointed. Rather than treat this man henceforth as an enemy, however, Franklin, knowing the gentleman had a valuable collection of books, asked the man if he could borrow a particular book he knew was in the collection. The man was very happy to lend the book to Franklin, and became a close friend who did other favors for Franklin in the future. Franklin draws the lesson that a person who does a kindness for another person is much more likely to do additional kindnesses for that person in the future, while a person who does a kindness for another person is much less likely to receive a kindness in return.He identifies several actions which he labels “errata.” These include his failure to correspond from London with his future wife, who married someone else and only became Franklin’s wife much later after her first husband died. He also thinks it was a mistake for him when starting out to accept a large sum of money from a friend of his father’s, which because he lent it on to friends who never paid him back he himself was not in a position to pay back, although he was fortunate that his father’s friend did not ask for the money until many years later when Franklin did have the resources to pay.Franklin’s formal education ended in grade school and his father than began to seek an apprenticeship position for him. (He wanted to go to sea, which his father strongly opposed, and the initial plans for him to become a cleric fell through.) He ended up as an apprentice to one of his elder brothers who was a printer in Boston. (Benjamin was the 10th child in his family.) On moral grounds, he became a vegetarian. Later he discloses that he rationalized eating fish when he saw that the fish to be eaten had in their stomachs smaller fish they had devoured.Franklin loved to read and pursued his own self education. He learned foreign languages and Latin. (One of his recommendations for education is that students should study Latin after learning a romance language rather than before.) To improve his writing, he would take brief notes of articles in the Spectator magazine, and then rewrite the articles in his own language. He would then compare his writing to the original.He also loved to discuss issues and ideas with contemporaries. At first he would argue his positions forcefully, but soon learned that this approach was not persuasive. He then adopted the Socratic method and reveled in his ability to put his interlocutors into Socratic dilemmas. He was brought up as a Dissenter but reading books critical of Deism convinced him that Deism was the proper attitude toward God.On his first stay in London, he got a job with a printer. He lived on Little Britain near Clerkenwell, where the printers were located. He moved to Duke Street closer to the West End when he changed printers. Before returning to America, he gave some swimming lessons (in the Thames!) to sons of aristocrats and concluded he could have made a career out of this. He would swim from Chelsea to Blackfriar’s.While he was making his way and his fortune in Philadelphia as a printer, he also became involved in a variety of nonbusiness activities. He and his friends formed a discussion group, called the Junto, and these efforts eventually led to subscriptions to start the first library in America and to found a school which eventually became the University of Pennsylvania. He learned early on not to put himself forward as the founder of a new enterprise but rather to create it as an initiative of a number of friends. By not permitting one’s vanity to seek to raise one’s reputation above one’s friends, he found, it was much easier to get general consensus and financial support for new initiatives because a group of individuals could take the credit.By making his annual Poor Richard’s Almanac entertaining and useful, he “reaped considerable profit” from its sales. He was particularly proud of his newspaper. In a discussion that reminds us of debates concerning the role of free speech in social media today, he states the following:“In the conduct of my newspaper, I carefully excluded all libeling and personal abuse, which is of late years become so disgraceful to our country. Whenever I was solicited to insert anything of that kind, and the writers pleaded, as they generally did, the liberty of the press, and that a newspaper was like a stagecoach, in which anyone who would pay had a right to a place, my answer was, that I would print the piece separately if desired, and the author might have as many copies as they please to distribute himself, but that I would not take upon me to spread his detraction; and that, having contracted with my subscribers to furnish them with what might be either useful or entertaining, I could not fill their papers with private altercation, in which they had no concern, without doing the manifest injustice.”During the French and Indian War, he assisted General Braddock in obtaining wagons from Pennsylvania farmers, even though the farmers required Franklin guarantee compensation if the wagons were not returned. General Loudoun, Braddock’s successor put off paying Franklin for a long time, but fortunately he was paid shortly before the guarantee would have been exercised. At this time he made his second stay in London. He noticed how dirt would accumulate in the streets and then become mud in the rains. He came up with a proposal for keeping the streets clean, based on having a drain in the middle of the street. He also developed in Philadelphia an efficient method to operate street gas lights that he recommended be adopted in London.He relates how initially his discoveries in electricity were overlooked by the British but were acclaimed by the French. He favored teaching young women the basics of business accounting because widows who outlived their husbands engaged in business would need such knowledge to protect their interests.It is a pity that the autobiography ends before the American Revolution, but apparently his later years are covered by correspondence and other papers. He also had a falling out with his son William during the revolution. William, who was illegitimate, became a loyalist rather than supporting the patriot cause.Franklin’s autobiography is one of the most important primary sources for historians of the period at the same time that it is a readable and interesting narrative of part of the life of one of the most important founding fathers. The full richness of this autobiography cannot be adequately summarized in a review without repeating the autobiography itself. Start reading it (in my edition it was only 114 pages long) and see if it catches you within the first ten pages.
    • 3/5
      I took this book to understand more about Franklin. Franklin is writing this to his son. I enjoyed his plan for moral perfection, and he admits that he is not perfect. It seemed that Franklin read a lot and enjoyed being around with readers.

      Deus Vult
      --Gottfried

    • 2/5
      It reads more like a diary or journal than an autobiography.
    • 4/5
      I listened to the autobiography via LibriVox.org. While I recognize that volunteers read the books, the narrator for this book would've been right at home on NPR.Nevertheless, I quite enjoyed Franklin's autobiography. Although I've read much about the period, I was a bit worried that the language would be such that it might be difficult to follow. But this was not the case. Many of the anecdotes were quite humorous and certainly illuminating. Franklin was an amazing man.The problem with the book is that he didn't cover anything beyond 1764 or so. This was disappointing to me as I expected to hear his thoughts on the 10-year period leading up to the Declaration of Independence, as well as his involvement in said document. I also wanted to hear, from his perspective, about his time in France. Maybe I should have already been aware of the period the book covered but I wasn't.Regardless, I'd encourage you to read (or listen) to it as it reminds us that human nature doesn't change, but that every now and then along comes someone who breaks the mold. Franklin is clearly an example of this.
    • 4/5
      I'm not a big fan of biographies, but I feel like the useful advice offered within Franklin's life-story is deserving of some serious bonus points. So much of what he said was so motivating and makes me feel like I can achieve some previously unforeseen potential.
    • 4/5
      The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin was written in two sections, the first in 1771 and the second in 1778. The autobiography ends in 1757 and so never arrives at the American Revolution, but it still captures Franklin's wit and personality. Though he claims to write for his son's benefit, his adage on page 157 better sums up his goal: "That, as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generously." Much like the advice doled out in Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanacks, the Autobiography serves as an example to his readers on how to live their lives. For those reading with an interest in history, Franklin's writing helps to capture the character of the time in which he lived, but is likely colored by nostalgia and memory.
    • 3/5
      Well I found out only in reading that it wasn't complete! That surprised me. The title really should be changed to 'The Unfinished...' or something similar.

      Started off so well! An awesome insight into the path this god of industriousness took from adolescence to adulthood. The best part was his account of how he settled his printing business in Pennsylvania, and how he carried out his life in general at that time, and how he learned to deal with people. It petered off half way and became mainly an account of politics and goings-on, still with the backdrop of his ridiculous industriousness.

      The first part was 5/5, but the the book is not coherent so 3/5. Looking forward to a biography
    • 5/5
      Though the reading is a little rough at times due to an older style of English writing, I found myself entertained and impressed by this life account by Benjamin Franklin. He was a highly-accomplished man of greater wisdom than most. It was interesting to read how he came up with the ideas and then carried them through to form the first public library in Pennsylvania as well as a volunteer fire department and what you might call a handy 'road crew'. Not to mention vast public undertakings that were successful via his participation. What I especially enjoyed was his list of personal virtues--character traits he purposefully molded into himself to become a better husband, friend, neighbor, and individual. Benjamin Franklin was by choice a grand fellow.
    • 3/5
      I first picked this book up along with a good binding of Poor Richard's Almanack quite some time ago but I didn't start reading it until after I heard about it from Christopher Hitchens in his collection, Arguably. Besides calling him the cleverest of the founding fathers, he also had seemingly unearthed new light on the downright humor of Benjamin Franklin. I didn't know a saying like "The Lord Helps Those Who Help Themselves" was in jest but after I heard that suddenly it made perfect sense. Sadly that and much of the rest of his famous proverbs are not included in this biography which has some humor in it but contrary to what Hitchens said is actually fairly straight forward and worse, a little on the unedifying side. This may be due to its incomplete state. Sure, some of it had some insight into what made the man so successful and for that I've awarded the score I did but it also gets into matters of state which I find to be boring. All in all not what Christopher Hitchens touts it to be or even what Franklin probably wanted it to be and therefore a disappointment. Stay for parts 1 and 2 but leave for parts 3 and 4, and wonder what the book would've looked like complete. As it is, it's just not enough. Of anything.
    • 4/5
      "Started From The Bottom" in book form, basically. Franklin's own 4-page outline of his life is amazing.
    • 3/5
      I like the reflection on his growth and tales of upbringing. But, Old Benjamin was prone to speak highly of himself and there are a few racist and sexist parts regarding Native Americans especially.
    • 4/5
      The book is split into four parts. The first part was a spectacular overview of the first third of his life. It wasn't tedious and brought together for me many concepts I've so far spent my life contemplating.

      I do recommend.
    • 2/5
      oh my. what an unlikable guy this benjamin unles you are a workoholic. he refused to play chess with his friend because it takes time away from his studies? he never stopped to smell the roses it seems. a sad life.
    • 4/5
      Benjamin Franklin has a wonderful voice. It is consistently sincere and earnest while having a strange combination of humility and smugness. I found Part I of the Autobiography most interesting. It describes Franklin's early experiences, his start in printing, his flight from Boston to Philadelphia, the rivalries between different print shops, and his trip to England. In part this was interesting because it was a single unified narrative, whereas much of what came later was more of a collection of miscellanies about Franklin's role in everything from the legislation provisioning armed forces to Poor Richard's Almanac to the Indian wars to inventions as varied as the Franklin stove to how to best arrange the gutter in public streets. Unfortunately it had only a very brief part on the runup to the revolution and nothing on the revolution or what followed. It is a loss that Franklin never wrote a complete autobiography.
    • 3/5
      The first part of this is quite engaging, as Franklin relates his time in Boston and his moving to Philadelphia. I remember reading part of this in eighth grade, including his wife-to-be seeing him walking with bread under his arm when he first arrived in Philadelphia. His time in develping his career as a printer is of interest. The next three parts are less attractive, as he tells of his wisdom and success in his endeavors in regard to the library, the fire fighting force, and his inventions. The autobiography does not cover the most important events of his life and effectually ends in the 1750's when much of his brilliant career lay in the future.
    • 4/5
      My first look into the early life of a famous American. I always knew he was a printer, but never fully understood how much his profession played a roll in his life. As a printer and a Mason I hope to follow Ben as a great American.
    • 5/5
      My wife recommended this one to me, and she was absolutely right to. I loved it. Ben Franklin is probably my favorite figure from that period in American history, not just for what he did but for his character, wit, and humility. All of those shine through in this book.His autobiography covers his life from his birth in 1706 through the mid-1760’s. It was written in four sections. The first was written as a letter to his son William in 1771, and it reads very much like one with personal asides and mention of family. The next was written in Paris in the early 1780s while acting as ambassador, and it was more formal, aimed at someone who at read that earlier letter to his son and encouraged him to continue the record. The third section was written after he had returned to Philadelphia after the Revolutionary War, and the fourth was a very short section that appeared to be an attempt to continue it towards the war.I detailed the sources of the writing because it impacts how it is read. The early section (perhaps the first half of the book) reads as an Englishman speaking to his son, both to fill him in on the family history as well as to remind him of some of their joint experiences. It reads fairly sweetly and humorously. The Revolutionary War is not yet on his horizon. At best, he expresses occasional distress as the some of the decisions by the crown and the decisions by the William Penn’s heirs back in England over the management of the Pennsylvania colony.The later sections were written during or after the war, and hints of family are gone. He does not say so explicitly, but it is known that he and his son took different sides in the war, and neither forgave the other. He makes occasional mentions of his son, as they actually took some joint actions during the French/Indian war in the 1760’s, but gone is that sense of affection. It’s noticeable in the language, but that much more striking when you know what happened between them.Also at this point, the war is behind him, and his frustration with England’s management of the colonies shows strongly. It is not merely that he feels they were wrong or greedy but that they were predisposed to act unethically or to at least act so as to protect themselves from the assumption that the colonists would act unethically. This was especially offensive to him as he had taken great pains over his life (as outlined in some of the text) to develop a strong ethical code.Obviously, he writes about the many of the projects he undertook in life, the accomplishments he made, and the relationships he forged, but rather that hoist them up to brag, he details his decisions around them and how he was able to succeed. It seems as though his main goal in this is not to preen but to instruct, as though he wants his audience to learn from his mistakes and methods to go forth and do even greater things.Towards that point, I think he nailed a good policy on debate, which will likely form a future essay I write on netiquette. After detailing a method of debate that won him many victories, some of which he felt were undeserved, he altered his strategy:I continued this method some few years, but gradually left it, retaining only the habit of expressing myself in terms of modest diffidence; never using, when I advanced any thing that may possibly be disputed, the words certainly, undoubtedly, or any others that give the air of positiveness to an opinion; but rather say, I conceive or apprehend a thing to be so and so; it appears to me, or I should think it so or so, for such and such reasons; or I imagine it to be so; or it is so, if I am not mistaken.This habit, I believe, has been of great advantage to me when I have had occasion in inculcate my opinions, and persuade men into measures that I have been from time to time engaged in promoting; and, as the chief ends of conversation are to inform or to be informed, to please or to persuade, I wish well-meaning, sensible men would not lessen their power of doing good by a positive, assuming manner, that seldom fails to disgust, tends to create opposition, and to defeat every one of those purposes for which speech was given to us, to wit, giving or receiving information or pleasure.For, if you would inform, a positive and dogmatical manner in advancing your sentiments may provoke contradiction and prevent candid attention.If you wish information and improvement from the knowledge of others, and yet at the same time express yourself as firmly fixed in your present opinions, modest sensible men, who do not love disputation, will probably leave you undisturbed in the possession of your error.And by such a manner, you can seldom hope to recommend yourself in pleasing your hearers, or to persuade those whose concurrence you desire.He hits on similar themes elsewhere on everything from telling someone they are mistaken to convincing a large group to support a position. It’s as much history as it is instruction on the art of polite debate. As such, I think this is a book that every American should read, less for its factual content than for its lessons on how to behave in a political society. As for the rest of you, it’s actually quite a bit of fun, so give that poor Yank a read anyway.
    • 3/5
      I don't feel qualified to rate this. I'm just going to give it a solid 3.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed it, especially how much humor it contained. There are so many stories that I had to bring up and discuss with others - learning about how he was a vegetarian for awhile and while watching the other people on a ship catching and eating cod, and smelling how delicious it was when they were being cooked, and then seeing that inside each cod, there were smaller fish, he decided it was OK to eat another animal because the cod were eating other animals too. And then admitting to himself how great it was that man was a reasonable creature and could make such reasonable accomodations. And I enjoyed how he put together a list of virtues that he practiced and monitored (I'm actually considering trying out his system in 2013), and when someone he knew suggested he should add to the list, and in particular add pride. He eventually agreed to add pride, but he also admitted he was proud of his list of virtues...! Franklin's autobiography isn't complete, there are some gaps and it only covers ~50 of his 84 years. And certainly as an autobiography it's a bit biased...(there's a lot of pride in it!) I had read McCullough's John Adams and remember vividly what John Adams though about Franklin based on the time he spent with him in France. So, at some point I will need to read a good biography of Franklin.
    • 4/5
      Benjamin Franklin has a wonderful voice. It is consistently sincere and earnest while having a strange combination of humility and smugness. I found Part I of the Autobiography most interesting. It describes Franklin's early experiences, his start in printing, his flight from Boston to Philadelphia, the rivalries between different print shops, and his trip to England. In part this was interesting because it was a single unified narrative, whereas much of what came later was more of a collection of miscellanies about Franklin's role in everything from the legislation provisioning armed forces to Poor Richard's Almanac to the Indian wars to inventions as varied as the Franklin stove to how to best arrange the gutter in public streets. Unfortunately it had only a very brief part on the runup to the revolution and nothing on the revolution or what followed. It is a loss that Franklin never wrote a complete autobiography.
    • 4/5
      Originally written as a letter to his illegitimate son, Benjamin Franklin sets out to tell the story of his life's work. It briefly covers his childhood but focuses more on his years of employment, first as a printer's apprentice, then as a prominent political leader among many, many other things. By the end of it you will be asking what didn't this guy do? However, it ends (abruptly) before his involvement in the Revolution or his efforts to free slaves, two aspects of his life I find most interesting. Peppered throughout the autobiography is Benjamin Franklin's adamant call to humility, modesty, and virtue which is humorously contradictory for a man with such a long list of obvious accomplishments.
    • 3/5
      Ben had a rare brilliance. That being said, when reading this book it's obvious he knew that as well. The hardest part in reading this book was muddling through the mind-blowing vanity. It was amazing to see history from his point of view, in an accurate historic and non-fictional setting but DANG! Very vain. That's my only complaint but it lowered my opinion of the account.
    • 2/5
      There must be better audio out there on Benjamin Franklin. It was an autobiography so it was interesting hearing it from his perspective. That said it ended to early in his life for it did not even cover the revolution. Also, one has to focus due to the use of 18th century words and phrases. Overall it was very dry.
    • 4/5
      Just about every leader in the self-improvement genre advises that you should read Ben Franklin’s autobiography. So, it has been on my list for a long time. I’ve tried to check it out many times, but it was never on the shelves at my local library. So, I finally put a hold on it, and here we are. The book takes the form of a letter to his son, so one of the most notable things about it is that it is not really a book, in the sense that it has no chapters. It is a very long letter spelling out what, you assume, Franklin felt it was important to tell us about his public life. I, for one, found it to be very enlightening. First of all, I learned a lot about Franklin. I’m sure I learned some of this stuff in elementary school, but I’ve since forgotten it. He is responsible for much more history than just the kite flying and the socializing in France. As a matter of fact, it is hard to believe that one person could contribute so much, in so many different aspects of life, to society. I walked away with the sense that Franklin never slept and never had a sick day in his life. He couldn’t have in order to do everything he did. I also learned a lot about society in the 1700s from this book. Because Franklin is writing about things that happened to him, you can easily get a sense of the way business, politics, and life was conducted during his time. This was a period in our culture where arguments were made through the use of a pamphlet. If you wanted to make a point about something, you wrote and distributed a pamphlet. Others would read and either agree or disagree with you. Many times, if they disagreed, they would do so through their own pamphlet. I believe that this pamphlet culture was imperative to the building of our culture, because the author of a pamphlet would think through their position, layout their arguments, providing supporting evidence or testimonials, and ensure that they had made their case before publishing. They put their reputation on the line when they published a pamphlet, knowing that if they published something that later turned out to be untrue, they would lose face. In our current environment of sound-bites and tweets, I must say that I’m a little nostalgic for a pamphlet culture. Finally, maybe because I spend my free time on issues of literacy and education, I learned from this book that Franklin was a self-taught, life-long learner. Part of the reason that he accomplished as much as he accomplished is because of his shear curiosity. He wasn’t a scientist, but that didn’t stop him from conducting science experiments and publishing his findings. He didn’t do this for any other reason that he was curious to know why things work the way they do. He didn’t say to himself, ‘I wonder how come it is faster to sail from America to Europe than it is to sail from Europe to America, but I’m not a scientist, so I guess I’ll never know.’ He did some experiments and found the Gulf Stream. He didn’t leave it to someone else, he didn’t ask for permission, and he didn’t let the fact that he was a printer, not a scientist keep him from doing it. He had an insatiable need to learn and discover new things. That may be the best lesson we can take from Franklin’s life.
    • 3/5
      I have mixed feelings about this book. Franklin's accomplishments are beyond dispute, and certain stories he relates have a charm that harken back to America in a very different age.Nonetheless, Franklin's view of himself is nothing other than narcissistic, and his incessant attention (i.e., devotion?) to money is distasteful. All in all, a decent read into a storied but ultimately unappealing personality.
    • 5/5
      If you think you know Benjamin Franklin from what they taught you in school, you should read his autobiography and be enlightened. In fact, did you know this man invented the autobiography? You think of Benjamin Franklin as this old fat rich white guy who you may have heard was kicked out of France for being too rowdy. Of all places, he was kicked out of France. How do you get kicked out of France? Only Benjamin knows how. Now you might also feel scornful of him because his pretty face is on the $100 bill you're having a hard time keeping tabs on, and you have to hear time and time again about how great this guy is and how he's one of America's founding fathers. We get it. But do you know how he managed to get so great? Would you believe this man went to grammar school for less than a year and yet he was able to be so successful? Not that my point is: "Hey, if Benjamin Franklin became famous without having to suffer in the prison-like schools, why can't anyone else do the same?" No. By all means, stay in grade school until you graduate. The reason why Benjamin was so successful is because he was auto-didactic, that is, he was self-taught. He would take out a book and copy the writing word for word until he could imitate it and develop his own writing style. Now that's dedication. This man believed in the quality of hard-work, and he believed that anyone could climb to the top if they work hard enough. Sound familiar? Now if any of the above information piques your interest, go read about the great inventor and one of the successful men in the world.

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    The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin - Benjamin Franklin

    The Autobiography of

    Benjamin Franklin

    With Introduction And Notes

    Edited By Charles W Eliot Lld

    P F COLLIER & SON COMPANY, NEW YORK (1909)

    INTRODUCTORY NOTE

    BENJAMIN FRANKLIN was born in Milk Street, Boston, on January 6, 1706. His father, Josiah Franklin, was a tallow chandler who married twice, and of his seventeen children Benjamin was the youngest son. His schooling ended at ten, and at twelve he was bound apprentice to his brother James, a printer, who published the New England Courant. To this journal he became a contributor, and later was for a time its nominal editor. But the brothers quarreled, and Benjamin ran away, going first to New York, and thence to Philadelphia, where he arrived in October, 1723. He soon obtained work as a printer, but after a few months he was induced by Governor Keith to go to London, where, finding Keith's promises empty, he again worked as a compositor till he was brought back to Philadelphia by a merchant named Denman, who gave him a position in his business. On Denman's death he returned to his former trade, and shortly set up a printing house of his own from which he published The Pennsylvania Gazette, to which he contributed many essays, and which he made a medium for agitating a variety of local reforms. In 1732 he began to issue his famous Poor Richard's Almanac for the enrichment of which he borrowed or composed those pithy utterances of worldly wisdom which are the basis of a large part of his popular reputation. In 1758, the year in which he ceases writing for the Almanac, he printed in it Father Abraham's Sermon, now regarded as the most famous piece of literature produced in Colonial America.

    Meantime Franklin was concerning himself more and more with public affairs. He set forth a scheme for an Academy, which was taken up later and finally developed into the University of Pennsylvania; and he founded an American Philosophical Society for the purpose of enabling scientific men to communicate their discoveries to one another. He himself had already begun his electrical researches, which, with other scientific inquiries, he called on in the intervals of money-making and politics to the end of his life. In 1748 he sold his business in order to get leisure for study, having now acquired comparative wealth; and in a few years he had made discoveries that gave him a reputation with the learned throughout Europe. In politics he proved very able both as an administrator and as a controversialist; but his record as an office-holder is stained by the use he made of his position to advance his relatives. His most notable service in home politics was his reform of the postal system; but his fame as a statesman rests chiefly on his services in connection with the relations of the Colonies with Great Britain, and later with France. In 1757 he was sent to England to protest against the influence of the Penns in the government of the colony, and for five years he remained there, striving to enlighten the people and the ministry of England as to Colonial conditions. On his return to America he played an honorable part in the Paxton affair, through which he lost his seat in the Assembly; but in 1764 he was again despatched to England as agent for the colony, this time to petition the King to resume the government from the hands of the proprietors. In London he actively opposed the proposed Stamp Act, but lost the credit for this and much of his popularity through his securing for a friend the office of stamp agent in America. Even his effective work in helping to obtain the repeal of the act left him still a suspect; but he continued his efforts to present the case for the Colonies as the troubles thickened toward the crisis of the Revolution. In 1767 he crossed to France, where he was received with honor; but before his return home in 1775 he lost his position as postmaster through his share in divulging to Massachusetts the famous letter of Hutchinson and Oliver. On his arrival in Philadelphia he was chosen a member of the Continental Congress and in 1777 he was despatched to France as commissioner for the United States. Here he remained till 1785, the favorite of French society; and with such success did he conduct the affairs of his country that when he finally returned he received a place only second to that of Washington as the champion of American independence. He died on April 17, 1790.

    The first five chapters of the Autobiography were composed in England in 1771, continued in 1784-5, and again in 1788, at which date he brought it down to 1757. After a most extraordinary series of adventures, the original form of the manuscript was finally printed by Mr. John Bigelow, and is here reproduced in recognition of its value as a picture of one of the most notable personalities of Colonial times, and of its acknowledged rank as one of the great autobiographies of the world.

    BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

    HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY

    1706-1757

    TWYFORD, at the Bishop of St. Asaph's,[0] 1771.

    [0] The country-seat of Bishop Shipley, the good bishop, as Dr. Franklin used to style him.—B.

    DEAR SON: I have ever had pleasure in obtaining any little anecdotes of my ancestors. You may remember the inquiries I made among the remains of my relations when you were with me in England, and the journey I undertook for that purpose. Imagining it may be equally agreeable to[1] you to know the circumstances of my life, many of which you are yet unacquainted with, and expecting the enjoyment of a week's uninterrupted leisure in my present country retirement, I sit down to write them for you. To which I have besides some other inducements. Having emerged from the poverty and obscurity in which I was born and bred, to a state of affluence and some degree of reputation in the world, and having gone so far through life with a considerable share of felicity, the conducing means I made use of, which with the blessing of God so well succeeded, my posterity may like to know, as they may find some of them suitable to their own situations, and therefore fit to be imitated.

    [1] After the words agreeable to the words some of were interlined and afterward effaced.—B.

    That felicity, when I reflected on it, has induced me sometimes to say, that were it offered to my choice, I should have no objection to a repetition of the same life from its beginning, only asking the advantages authors have in a second edition to correct some faults of the first. So I might, besides correcting the faults, change some sinister accidents and events of it for others more favorable. But though this were denied, I should still accept the offer. Since such a repetition is not to be expected, the next thing most like living one's life over again seems to be a recollection of that life, and to make that recollection as durable as possible by putting it down in writing.

    Hereby, too, I shall indulge the inclination so natural in old men, to be talking of themselves and their own past actions; and I shall indulge it without being tiresome to others, who, through respect to age, might conceive themselves obliged to give me a hearing, since this may be read or not as any one pleases. And, lastly (I may as well confess it, since my denial of it will be believed by nobody), perhaps I shall a good deal gratify my own vanity. Indeed, I scarce ever heard or saw the introductory words, Without vanity I may say, &c., but some vain thing immediately followed. Most people dislike vanity in others, whatever share they have of it themselves; but I give it fair quarter wherever I meet with it, being persuaded that it is often productive of good to the possessor, and to others that are within his sphere of action; and therefore, in many cases, it would not be altogether absurd if a man were to thank God for his vanity among the other comforts of life.

    And now I speak of thanking God, I desire with all humility to acknowledge that I owe the mentioned happiness of my past life to His kind providence, which lead me to the means I used and gave them success. My belief of this induces me to hope, though I must not presume, that the same goodness will still be exercised toward me, in continuing that happiness, or enabling me to bear a fatal reverse, which I may experience as others have done: the complexion of my future fortune being known to Him only in whose power it is to bless to us even our afflictions.

    The notes one of my uncles (who had the same kind of curiosity in collecting family anecdotes) once put into my hands, furnished me with several particulars relating to our ancestors. From these notes I learned that the family had lived in the same village, Ecton, in Northamptonshire, for three hundred years, and how much longer he knew not (perhaps from the time when the name of Franklin, that before was the name of an order of people, was assumed by them as a surname when others took surnames all over the kingdom), on a freehold of about thirty acres, aided by the smith's business, which had continued in the family till his time, the eldest son being always bred to that business; a custom which he and my father followed as to their eldest sons. When I searched the registers at Ecton, I found an account of their births, marriages and burials from the year 1555 only, there being no registers kept in that parish at any time preceding. By that register I perceived that I was the youngest son of the youngest son for five generations back. My grandfather Thomas, who was born in 1598, lived at Ecton till he grew too old to follow business longer, when he went to live with his son John, a dyer at Banbury, in Oxfordshire, with whom my father served an apprenticeship. There my grandfather died and lies buried. We saw his gravestone in 1758. His eldest son Thomas lived in the house at Ecton, and left it with the land to his only child, a daughter, who, with her husband, one Fisher, of Wellingborough, sold it to Mr. Isted, now lord of the manor there. My grandfather had four sons that grew up, viz.: Thomas, John, Benjamin and Josiah. I will give you what account I can of them, at this distance from my papers, and if these are not lost in my absence, you will among them find many more particulars.

    Thomas was bred a smith under his father; but, being ingenious, and encouraged in learning (as all my brothers were) by an Esquire Palmer, then the principal gentleman in that parish, he qualified himself for the business of scrivener; became a considerable man in the county; was a chief mover of all public-spirited undertakings for the county or town of Northampton, and his own village, of which many instances were related of him; and much taken notice of and patronized by the then Lord Halifax. He died in 1702, January 6, old style, just four years to a day before I was born. The account we received of his life and character from some old people at Ecton, I remember, struck you as something extraordinary, from its similarity to what you knew of mine.

    Had he died on the same day, you said, one might have supposed a transmigration.

    John was bred a dyer, I believe of woolens. Benjamin was bred a silk dyer, serving an apprenticeship at London. He was an ingenious man. I remember him well, for when I was a boy he came over to my father in Boston, and lived in the house with us some years. He lived to a great age. His grandson, Samuel Franklin, now lives in Boston. He left behind him two quarto volumes, MS., of his own poetry, consisting of little occasional pieces addressed to his friends and relations, of which the following, sent to me, is a specimen.[2] He had formed a short-hand of his own, which he taught me, but, never practising it, I have now forgot it. I was named after this uncle, there being a particular affection between him and my father. He was very pious, a great attender of sermons of the best preachers, which he took down in his short-hand, and had with him many volumes of them. He was also much of a politician; too much, perhaps, for his station. There fell lately into my hands, in London, a collection he had made of all the principal pamphlets, relating to public affairs, from 1641 to 1717; many of the volumes are wanting as appears by the numbering, but there still remain eight volumes in folio, and twenty-four in quarto and in octavo. A dealer in old books met with them, and knowing me by my sometimes buying of him, he brought them to me. It seems my uncle must have left them here, when he went to America, which was about fifty years since. There are many of his notes in the margins.

    [2] Here follow in the margin the words, in brackets, here insert it, but the poetry is not given. Mr. Sparks informs us (Life of Franklin, p. 6) that these volumes had been preserved, and were in possession of Mrs. Emmons, of Boston, great-granddaughter of their author.

    This obscure family of ours was early in the Reformation, and continued Protestants through the reign of Queen Mary, when they were sometimes in danger of trouble on account of their zeal against popery. They had got an English Bible, and to conceal and secure it, it was fastened open with tapes under and within the cover of a joint-stool. When my great-great-grandfather read it to his family, he turned up the joint-stool upon his knees, turning over the leaves then under the tapes. One of the children stood at the door to give notice if he saw the apparitor coming, who was an officer of the spiritual court. In that case the stool was turned down again upon its feet, when the Bible remained concealed under it as before. This anecdote I had from my uncle Benjamin. The family continued all of the Church of England till about the end of Charles the Second's reign, when some of the ministers that had been outed for nonconformity holding conventicles in Northamptonshire, Benjamin and Josiah adhered to them, and so continued all their lives: the rest of the family remained with the Episcopal Church.

    Josiah, my father, married young, and carried his wife with three children into New England, about 1682. The conventicles having been forbidden by law, and frequently disturbed, induced some considerable men of his acquaintance to remove to that country, and he was prevailed with to accompany them thither, where they expected to enjoy their mode of religion with freedom. By the same wife he had four children more born there, and by a second wife ten more, in all seventeen; of which I remember thirteen sitting at one time at his table, who all grew up to be men and women, and married; I was the youngest son, and the youngest child but two, and was born in Boston, New England. My mother, the second wife, was Abiah Folger, daughter of Peter Folger, one of the first settlers of New England, of whom honorable mention is made by Cotton Mather in his church history of that country, entitled Magnalia Christi Americana, as a godly, learned Englishman, if I remember the words rightly. I have heard that he wrote sundry small occasional pieces, but only one of them was printed, which I saw now many years since. It was written in 1675, in the home-spun verse of that time and people, and addressed to those then concerned in the government there. It was in favor of liberty of conscience, and in behalf of the Baptists, Quakers, and other sectaries that had been under persecution, ascribing the Indian wars, and other distresses that had befallen the country, to that persecution, as so many judgments of God to punish so heinous an offense, and exhorting a repeal of those uncharitable laws. The whole appeared to me as written with a good deal of decent plainness and manly freedom. The six concluding lines I remember, though I have forgotten the two first of the stanza; but the purport of them was, that his censures proceeded from good-will, and, therefore, he would be known to be the author.

              "Because to be a libeller (says he)

              I hate it with my heart;

              From Sherburne town, where now I dwell

              My name I do put here;

              Without offense your real friend,

              It is Peter Folgier."

    My elder brothers were all put apprentices to different trades. I was put to the grammar-school at eight years of age, my father intending to devote me, as the tithe of his sons, to the service of the Church. My early readiness in learning to read (which must have been very early, as I do not remember when I could not read), and the opinion of all his friends, that I should certainly make a good scholar, encouraged him in this purpose of his. My uncle Benjamin, too, approved of it, and proposed to give me all his short-hand volumes of sermons, I suppose as a stock to set up with, if I would learn his character. I continued, however, at the grammar-school not quite one year, though in that time I had risen gradually from the middle of the class of that year to be the head of it, and farther was removed into the next class above it, in order to go with that into the third at the end of the year. But my father, in the meantime, from a view of the expense of a college education, which having so large a family he could not well afford, and the mean living many so educated were afterwards able to obtain—reasons that he gave to his friends in my hearing—altered his first intention, took me from the grammar-school, and sent me to a school for writing and arithmetic, kept by a then famous man, Mr. George Brownell, very successful in his profession generally, and that by mild, encouraging methods. Under him I acquired fair writing pretty soon, but I failed in the arithmetic, and made no progress in it. At ten years old I was taken home to assist my father in his business, which was that of a tallow-chandler and sope-boiler; a business he was not bred to, but had assumed on his arrival in New England, and on finding his dying trade would not maintain his family, being in little request. Accordingly, I was employed in cutting wick for the candles, filling the dipping mold and the molds for cast candles, attending the shop, going of errands, etc.

    I disliked the trade, and had a strong inclination for the sea, but my father declared against it; however, living near the water, I was much in and about it, learnt early to swim well, and to manage boats; and when in a boat or canoe with other boys, I was commonly allowed to govern, especially in any case of difficulty; and upon other occasions I was generally a leader among the boys, and sometimes led them into scrapes, of which I will mention one instance, as it shows an early

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